Wrapper for cigars or the like



?aienieoi Aug. 3Q, E38

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WRAPPER FR CEGARS @R THE LIKE Biagio Midulla, New York, N. if.

Application May 3, 1937, Serial No. 140,522

3 Claims. (Ci. lill-ll) The present invention relates to wrapper receptacles for cigars o r the like, this application constituting a continuation in part of my copending application Serial No. 94,676 led August 5 6, 1936, now Patent No. 2,082,714, dated June 1, 1937, for Bag-like receptacles for tobacco products.

y It has become the custom at the present time to individually wrap or enclose cigars, or similar tobacco products, preliminary to the dissemination and sale thereof for a number of reasons, among which may be mentioned that such wrappings maintain the sanitary condition of the products, facilitate the application or protection of bands, and above all, prevent breakage of the outer tobacco wrappers and preserve the moisture contained in the tobacco.

Heretofore such wrapper envelopes have been made of paper, but this has been more or less universally displaced by the Well known transparent and moisture-proof material called in the trade Cellophane. This material or its equivalent, due to its toughness and moisture-proof characteristics, is admirablyi suited to the purpose, but, at the same time, it possesses a Very undesirable feature which detracts from its usefulness. Wrapper pouches or receptacles made from this material have a very sharp and tough cutting edge, and in the introduction of the cigar into the mouth of the receptacle, the edges of said mouth very often cut the tobacco wrapper at one or more places, necessitating repair or entire replacement of the tobacco wrapper.

I have found from experience in the hand iVilling of these receptacles, more or less generally practiced at this time, even with the exercise of y reasonable care, that anywhere from ten to twenty-five percent of the packaged articles may be damaged by this cutting edge, resulting in 40 material loss of time and labor and increase in expense.

'Ihis difficulty has led to the wrapping of cigars by rolling the material in sheet form around the cigar and then folding or twisting the ends of the material to close the wrapper, which method of wrapping is much less satisfactory as it does not aiord as good a seal or closure at the ends and therefore does not maintain the cigar in as fresh condition as when using sealed receptacles.

The solution of this troublesome problem is the objective of my present invention, and has been definitely solved by me ln a simple manner without material increase in the cost of the wrapper by the folding, rolling or other treatment of the mouthedge of the wrapper pouch in such' a manner as to present a smooth, non-cutting edge which not only eliminates the undesired cutting action, but materially facilitates the operation of introducing the cigar into the receptacle by holding the mouth in more stable open position, enabling reduction in the size of the receptacle to more closely hug the article as desired, and reenforcing the mouth against, tearing in the operation of filling the receptacle, or breaking open the side seal of the wrapper. l0

To this end, my invention consists in folding or rolling back the material of the edge of the mouth of the receptacle so as to form a smooth. round, or non-cutting edge, suitably reenforced, to present a smooth entrance and a tear tab. l5

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a receptacle showing one form `of construction of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a similar view of a modified form in 2o which a single tab is provided;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view showing the Wrapper material partially torn by the tab as when opening the wrapper; and

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the blank sheet from 25 which the wrapper of Fig. 2 is made.

Like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawing.

Referring to the drawing, it is to be understood 30 that the receptacle forming the subject matter of this invention is of that type which is baglike in form and collapsible, similar to the ordinary paper bag, by bending or folding in the opposite sides thereof in a well known manner. 35 The material of which the receptacle is made, as hereinbefore premised, is preferably Cellophane, or similar cellulosic product, because of the moisture-proof characteristics and transparency, and the toughness of such material which gives rise 40 to an attractive wrapper for tobacco products, like cigars. These bag-like receptacles may be had in various forms on the market at the present time, and have usually one end thereof closed by the folding over of the material and applying 45 to the fold a solvent or other adhesive so as to effectively provide a sealed closure which will offer resistance to the movement'of the cigar out of this end. This closed end in the construction of my receptacle, in certain forms thereof'par- 50 ticularly, need not be permanently sealed, because of the desirability of displacing the cigar through this preliminarily closed end.

In the drawing, referring first to the form shown in Fig. 1, i designates a bag-likereceptacle, above referred to, having the closed end 2 vwith its sealed fold 3. The upper portion or vtion 4 is provided with a series of serrations or tabs 5 which facilitate the bending outwardly `of the material when in the bag-like form. Preferably, however, the folded section 4 and serrations 5 are produced when the material is in its sheet form at which time the serrations may be readily cut and the flange folded into close contact with the contiguous portion of the sheet.

This refold portion of the wrapper performs several )important functions, in that it provides a smooth, rounded, non-cutting edge 4a that will readily slide over the cigar tobacco wrapper without tending to catch in the same, and secondly, in that it provides a reenforcing band extending about the mouth, as well as finger tab or tabs for facilitatingthe opening operation of the wrapper when it is desired to remove the cigar therefrom. To perform this last named opera' tion, one or more of the tabs are grasped between the fingers and pulled upwardly, causing the material to tear to the edge or mouth 4a and then by continuing the pulling operation downwardly of the wrapper receptacle, the tear will continue, until the bag is split apart. The notching of the material to provide the serrations enables the tearing action to be more readily started at the base or bases of the serration or serrations, as the case may be.

As a further carrying out of this idea, the wrapper may be made in the form shown particularly in Figs. 2 and 3, wherein the fold 6 is provided with a single extension tab 1 instead of groups oil serrations or tabs as shown in Fig. 1. In the formation of this tab, it is preferred that the sheet material be cut after the manner shown in Fig. 4. It will be observed that the tab 1 is an extension at the top of the sheet and at one side thereof so that it would lie as a continuation of the portion of the material that is lapped upon the other side to close the side wall of the bag, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. To these overlapping portions below the tab 1 a suitable adhesive or solvent may be applied for connecting the overlapping edges together in a well known manner.

Obviously in this form, the same stiffening and reenforcing of the mouth or entrance tothe wrapper is provided, in addition to which a tear tab is conveniently supplied for opening the wrapper when it is desired to remove the cigar therefrom. The opening operation will be understood clearly from Fig. 3. The tab is lifted and stressed sufficiently to rupture the material through the refold portion 6 at the corner 6a, and then by a downward pull the material will readily split along the corner ofthe bag which, because of its creased condition, forms a weakening line extending longitudinally of the wrapper. The overlap of the material is separated from the underlap, as the adhesive is usually a weak connection between the meeting edges.

In the use of this form, the entrance to the bag, as above indicated, is ofv reduced flexibility and tends to hold the wrapper in open position suiIiciently to introduce the point of the cigar. When the cigar has been shoved home against the closed end of the bag, the mouth may then be bent laterally to close the same and thebent portion sealed by an adhesive or by pressure between dies in a manner well known at the present time in the art.

In all cases, my method of treatment of the mouth of the receptacle reenforces it at this point and tends to prevent any bursting of the side sealing seam.

It will be understood that the bag may be made in any size or proportion to accommodate the particular object to be wrapped, and I have found that by reason of the construction of the mouth in the manner hereinbefore described these receptacles may be made to more snugly t the cigar, thereby effecting a saving in material and expense.

Although I have described my wrapper and its use for housing a cigar or smoking article, it is not intended that it should only be restricted to such use since it is obvious and readily apparent that numerous articles `other than cigars or tobacco products can be housed in the wrapper I have defined in the following claims without in any way modifying their form and structure as dened in said claims.

I claim:

1. A wrapper for a cigar comprising a holder formed of cellulosic material having one end closed and one end open, the cellulosic material at the open end being provided with a reinforcing band extending about the entrance of the holder formed by folding the material back upon itself, the material of the reinforcing band extending away from the entrance being notched to provide a series`of tongues providing a smooth non-cutting reinforced entrance for the holder.

-`2. A wrapper comprising a holder having one end closed and one end open, the material at the open end being folded back upon itself to provide a smooth holder entrance reinforced by a reinforcing band, and a tongue or tear tab extending from said band toward the closed end. 3. A wrapper comprising a holder formed from a sheet of transparent material, the longitudinal edges of which are overlapped and secured together to form a tubular holder, said material at one end being provided with a tongue extension forming a tear tab at the entrance of the holder, the tear tab being bent back upon itself and the body portion of the material at the entrance of the holder to form a smooth, unobstructed, noncutting mouth.

BIAGIO MIDULLA. 

